A Model for Integration in Arizona

The first hospital in Gilbert, Arizona, will partner with an integrative-medicine center to provide both Western and complementary health care. Gilbert is located within the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.

Mercy Gilbert Medical Center will open on June 5. The Celebration Center for Integrated Healing will open adjacent to the medical center in 2007.

Mercy Gilbert Medical Center is a full-service, acute-care facility that will provide comprehensive medical services. It is located on a 100-acre medical campus that includes 60 acres designated for the hospital and 40 acres for medical office buildings, according to a hospital press release. The Celebration Center for Integrated Healing will open on five acres next to the hospital, according to a report by Gilbert's East Valley Tribune newspaper.

Experts will research how massage, reiki, hydrotherapy and other holistic therapies complement allopathic care, the Tribune noted.

The newspaper quoted naturopathic doctor Daniel Rubin, of Scottsdale. Rubin, "who is expected to be certified as one of the first naturopathic oncologists in the nation, said the center’s impact will reach beyond the state, 'not only as a community marker of modern health care, but as a national marker for people with disease that are interested in the integrated approach to their care.'"

Gilbert is one of the nation's fastest-growing cities, with a population that has tripled to more than 178,000 over the past 10 years.